


Mere Dreams

by rikujo (helphiddlestoned)



Category: Hetalia: Axis Powers
Genre: Established Relationship, F/M, Spabel Week, We interrupt our scheduled programming for ANGST, kind of??
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-07-19
Updated: 2017-07-19
Packaged: 2018-12-04 08:55:51
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,379
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11551818
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/helphiddlestoned/pseuds/rikujo
Summary: In which a chance encounter brings up questions about the one thing nations can never have: children.





	Mere Dreams

**Author's Note:**

> I call Belgium 'Léa' because that's how I RP her and, as such, am completely incapable of referring to her as anything else anymore. If you dislike it then...sorry, I guess?
> 
> 'Luca' is Luxembourg, though I think that's more standard.
> 
> Anyway, happy reading!

Two hours.

Two hours they’d been stuck in the meeting already and, despite trying her best to practice patience, even Léa had her limit. She couldn’t have been happier when Ludwig finally relented and they got a break.

Grabbing a snack with Antonio was delightful by comparison and she gave a blissful sigh as they dropped down on the edge of a fountain in one of her squares to eat chips.

“Man, I could do with a nap.” Antonio declared, propping one hand against the stone behind her while popping a chip into his mouth with the other.

“I’m just glad to be out in the fresh air.” She returned with a smile. “I can only take so much of you boys bickering.”

“Hey, we weren’t bickering!” Antonio protested, though he seemed more interested in his food than actually defending his honour. “It was important.”

“I don’t think you and Arthur trying to one up each other counts as important.” she teased, her smile spreading a little.

Antonio looked up just to pout at her. “It’s important to me.”

She muffled a giggle, pleased when it brought out his smile once more, and opened her mouth to continue bantering with him only to be interrupted by a piercing cry nearby. She jumped, glancing round, only for the cry to turn into a true wail. It didn’t take long for her eyes to land on a child.

The boy couldn’t be older than four and standing only a few feet away. His dark blonde hair mussed, his blue eyes reddened from crying and there was an obvious graze on his left knee.

His cheeks already splotched with red and wet with tears, he was hiccupping something awful, and yet there was no parent in sight. As she watched, stunned by the sudden outburst, the crying grew stronger and his legs began to quake.

Her heart aching for him, she abandoned her food in Antonio’s lap without a thought.

Brushing off her fingers, she stepped up to the boy and calmly crouched down, trying to make her movements slow and smooth so as not to startle him.

“Young man, are you alright?” she asked gently.

He inhaled sharply, one wet sob following it, and for a moment there was only blind panic in his eyes. She offered the gentlest smile she had. His expression promptly crumpled further, another stuttering set of cries slipping out as he shook his head.

“H-hurts.” he managed to mumble between hiccups, but at least he didn’t look scared anymore.

She glanced down at the knee, nodding sympathetically as she noted the blood beginning to spot on the surface of the graze. “You poor thing.” she murmured. “Is your mummy or daddy here?”

“M-Mummy was buying something but I wanted to look at the fountain so…so…” he trailed off into sobs once more but Léa could put the pieces together easily enough.

“So you came over, and fell on your way?” she guessed. He gave another jerky nod. “It’s okay. We’ll find your mummy and make it all better, alright?”

A hand landed lightly on her shoulder and she found Antonio standing beside her, their food left behind on the edge of the fountain.

“Anything I can do?” Antonio asked, smiling for the boy.

“Maybe…he’s lost his mum.” Antonio looked out, eyes searching the square, and she turned back to the child. “Do you mind telling us your name?”

“…It’s Edward.”

“What a nice name! Well Edward, could you tell us a little about what your mum looks like? That way we’ll be able to find her.

“Actually,” Antonio interrupted. “I think she might be about to find us?”

He nodded across the square to where a brunette woman was pushing through the crowds, looking frantically left and right and drawing closer to them. Sure enough, she clocked them a moment later and rushed straight towards them.

“Oh god, Edward!”

“Mum!”

Léa pulled back, straightening up with a smile as the woman took Edward in her arms, holding him closer as her shoulders slumped in clear relief.

“Thank goodness you’re okay. You shouldn’t wander off like that!” His mother chided as she glanced up over her son’s shoulder, but there was little anger in the words. “Did you help him?” she asked.

“Only a little.” Léa replied politely. “I’m glad you found him alright.”

“Well, thank you anyway.” She gathered her son into her arms, managing a tight smile for them. “We’d best be going.”

“Of course. Goodbye Edward.”

The boy gave a tiny wave, still snuffling slightly that Léa returned as they turned away and she was left alone with Antonio once more.

Their chips were doubtlessly cold.

“You’re really good at stuff like that.” Antonio put in as they watched the pair walk away. She glanced up at him with a small, questioning sound. “Looking after kids.” he clarified.

She huffed out a laugh, shaking her head. “I just don’t like seeing little ones upset. I don’t know that I’d be any good if I actually had to be a mother.”

Antonio shook his head instantly. “No, you’d have been brilliant.”

She paused, trying not to picture anything, and looked back at the disappearing figures. It was never a good idea to think about these things, things she could never have. “You think?” she couldn’t help murmuring though.

“I _know_.” Antonio said surely. “You were always amazing with Lovi back when he was small and you spent all those years taking care of Luca too.”

She shook her head, dismissing the words with a sad smile. “No, I wasn’t that big myself when Luca was small. Jan was the one who really took care of both of us.”

Antonio shrugged, catching hr eyes. “Then just Lovino, you can’t deny that. He loved having you around. _I_ loved having you around, you were brilliant with him.”

She tried not to let her smile waver.

“I’m glad I could make those years a little nicer, I suppose.” She allowed. “But it’s not the same.” She added more quietly.

Antonio said nothing for a moment but then he turned to face her.

“Do you ever think about it, about what it would be like if you could have them?”

She wet her lips and took a steadying breath. “Sometimes.” she said, as evenly as she could manage.

“Would you, if you could?”

Her mind got away from her, slipping towards musing from slows nights and images played in her head over the decades of a small bundle to cradle in her arms.

She swallowed thickly.

“I would.” She admitted. Her smile flickered. “It’s hard not to imagine it, especially when the world is calm and it seems like a kind enough place to bring a child into.” She found herself studying her shoes instead of his face. “But it’s no good thinking about a fantasy. Plenty of people can’t have children; I shouldn’t look at it like it’s a tragedy.”

“…but you still want them.” He concluded. The words were strangely hard to hear aloud, so when he reached out to take her hand in his, she was grateful for it. “I’d love some…I wonder what it would be like if we could have them.”

Her gaze darted up to meet his and, despite the way her next breath shook, she still spoke with words that she’d thought countless times.  

“I like to think they’d have your eyes.”

The last word stuck at the back of her throat tellingly though and she couldn’t quite ignore the prickle at the corners of her eyes.

Antonio silently drew her in, wrapping her in his arms, and she hugged him close as he pressed a kiss to her temple. He fluttered another two, warm, against her cheek and, unable to resist, she turned her head just enough to catch his lips with hers.

It was a gentle, lingering thing, her body pressed flush to his and the square’s bustle pushed to the back of their minds. For a moment, she could forget everything else, until the kiss broke softly.

“I’m sorry I can’t give you that.” he murmured against her lips.

She smiled sadly, holding him a little tighter, and answered only in a whisper. “I’m sorry too.”

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading!
> 
> I'm aware that this is far from perfect, it may be edited better later, but right now I only have a computer for half an hour.
> 
> If I made you sad feel free to come moan at me for it here: anglaisaph.tumblr.com


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